Fold-back doors for pieces of furniture



a May 16, 1961 R. VINCENS 2,984,532 FOLDBACK DOORS FOR PIECES OFFURNITURE Filed 001;. 27, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 y 1961 R. VINCENS2,984,532

FOLD-BACK DOORS FOR PIECES OF FURNITURE Filed Oct. 27, 1959 2Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent p 2 5. FoLo-BACK nouns Rjenvincen's, Martin-Eglise Pr'es Dieppe, -signor to Societe Civile deRecherches Industrielles, Neuville-les-Dieppe, France not on. tri No.849,083

priority, application France Oct. 27, 1958 3 curs-323 et dEtudes Thisinvention relates to improvements in fold-back doorsfor pieces offurniture, and notably in doors pivotally mounted about a horizontalaxis disposed at the upperlorjlower portion ofdrawers, shelves, bins ortrays of cabinets, cupboards or filing-cabinets of o ifices and thelike.,l

Hinge means for fold-back doors ofjthis type are already known whereinthese doors are adapted to slide relative to. a cross-member extendingthroughout their length, thiskrossQmem-br being pivoted about ahorizontal axis. After opening the door by pivoting same from itsvertical. positionto its horizontal position, the door can .be retractedcompletely or partially within the piece of furniture by sliding in saidcross-member.

It is the essential object of this invention to provide on theone hand adevice for hingedly mounting the cross member alone, this device beingadapted to be fitted very easily in pieces of furniture made in sectionsadapted to bedisassembled, and on the other hand means for guiding thedoor relative to the cross-member for preventing any jammingtherebetween.

According to this invention, the hinge means contemplated for afold-back door for a piece of furniture adapted to be disassembled andmade of vertical uprights in which apertures are formed for securing thetrays or shelves, and wherein the fold-back door is adapted to sliderelative to a cross-member pivotally mounted about a horizontal axis, ischaracterized in that it comprises, at either end of the cross-member, abearing-forming plate rigid with said cross-member, and asupport-forming plate associated with said bearing-forming plate anddetachably mounted through the relevant upright, said support-formingplate being provided with a fixation member engaging an aperture in saidupright, a resiliently mounted pivot pin for hingedly mounting thecorresponding bearing-forming plate, and an abutment member engageableby said bearing-forming plate in the open position of said door.

In order to afford a better understanding of this invention and of themanner in which the same may be carried out in practice, reference willnow be made to the accompanying drawings forming part of thisspecification and illustrating diagrammatically 'by way of example atypical form of embodiment of the invention. In the drawings:

Figure l is a fragmentary perspective view showing the hinge mounting ofthe cross-member.

Figure 2 is a perspective view, with parts broken away, showing themounting of the support-forming plate on the upright of a piece offurniture or cabinet.

Figure 3 is a side view taken in the direction of the arrow 1 of Fig. 1.

Figure 4 is a plane view showing the door-guiding device, the body ofthe cross-member being removed for the sake of clarity; and

Figure 5 is a section taken upon the line VV of Fig. 4, the body of thecross-member being in position.

In Figs. 1 and 3 of the drawings the fold-back door 1 consisting of arectangular sheet-metal plate is adapted F PIECES OF France; as

2,984,532 Patented May 16, 1961 2 to slide relative to the cross-member2 extending throughout the length of the door 1. To this end, the sideedges 1a of door 1 are doubled over, as shown, in order to constitute.U-sectioned slide-bars each having its upper wing'fitted between theside edge 2a of cross-member 2 and a bearing-forming plate 3. Thebearing-forming plate 3 consists of an angle-member having itshorizontal wing 3a secured by a bolt 4 on the cross-member 2. The endportion 2a of cross-member 2 is shifted vertically so that the upperwing of slidebar 1a may fit in the fork consisting of thewing 3a and endportion 2a.

The vertical wing 3-b of the bearing-forming plate 3 is formed with asubstantially central hole adapted to receive a pivot pin 5 carried by asupport-forming plate 6.

This pivot pin 5 is maintained in the hole of the support forming plate6 by a spring blade 7 secured at 10 on. the plate 6. The upper and loweredges of plate 6 are bent at right angles.

The vertical edges of plate 6 are formed with lug extensions bent atright angles to constitute a rear lug 6a and a front lug 6b.

From Fig. 1 it will be seen that the rear lug 6a acts as an abutment tothe vertical wing 3b of the bearingforming plate 3 rigid withcross-member 2. In the abutment position this cross-member 2 and thedoor 1 are horizontah Of course, any other suitable member may besubstituted for the rear lug 6a.

The front lug 6b serves the purpose of engaging one of the verticalapertures 8a formed in the uprights 8 of the cabinet or like piece offurniture. In Fig. 2 it is clear that, when this lug 6b is engaged in anaperture 8a, the support-forming plate 6 is rendered solid with theupright 8 due to the wedging of the lug 6b against the bottom or centralportion of the upright-forming section 8.

To this end, the width e of lug 6b is advantageously selected to beclose to the distance d measured between one vertical edge of anaperture 8a and the remotest edge of the section 8 in order to lock thesupport-forming plate 6 against lateral displacement.

In Fig. 2 there is illustrated in chain-dotted lines a tray 9 which isalso secured on the upright 8 by means of a pawl 20 engaging one of theapertures 8a.

From Figures 1 to 3 it is clear that the door 1, after having beenpulled out completely from the cabinet, can pivot about the pivot pins5. The support-forming plate 6 may be positioned above or below the tray9, as desired, according as the door 1 is to close upwards or downwards.

The figures illustrate a typical form of embodiment wherein the door 1is closed by pivoting in the direction of the arrow f (Fig. 1), that isupwards.

If the door is to be closed through a downward rotational movement, theplate 6 is simply mounted upsidedown, that is, with the pivot pins 5 ata level higher than that of the lugs 6a and 6b.

In Figs. 4 and 5, the cross-member 2 carries at either end, in thetransverse direction, a pair of superposed pulleys designated by thereference numerals 11, 12 and 13, 14. A guide cable 15 anchored at 15aon one of the upper corners of the rectangular door 1 passes over thepulley 14 and then over pulley 11, and is then directed towards theopposite corner of the door and secured to one end of a traction spring16. The other end of this spring 16 is anchored on the door 1. Anothercable 17 anchored at 17a on the door 1 follows a path symmetric to thatof cable 15 with respect to the transverse plane of symmetry. This othercable 17 is similarly anchored to a spring 18. The springs 16, 18 arehoused in a channel 1 b formed along the rear edge of door 1.

The cables 15, 17 serve the purpose of guiding the door 1 relative tothe cross-member 2. As long as the door 1 moves in a direction parallelto this cross-member 2, the springs 16, .18 are subjected substantiallyonly to cross-member 2, with an inherent risk of jamming the former, oneof the springs would be subjected to an addi-' tiorial pull as aconsequence of the elongation of the. path of the relevant cable. If,for example, it is attempted to impress a movement of rotation in thedirection of the arrow f to the door 1 relative to the cross-member 2,it will be seen from Fig. 4, that the path of cable 15 is elongated andtherefore the spring 15 will exert an addi-- tional pull on the cable 15thus automatically tending to counter-balancetor compensate the pivotingmovement in the direction. of the arrow f and to maintain the parallelrelationship between the door 1 and cross-member 2. Of course, manymodifications may be brought to the arrangement shown and describedherein without departing from the spirit and scope of the inventionasset forth in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. Hinge means for the pivotal mounting of a foldback door in a piece offurniture adapted to be disassembled, which consists of verticaluprights having apertures formed therein for the fixation of trays orshelves and wherein the door is adapted to slide on a cross-memberpivotally mounted about a horizontal axis, said hinge means comprisingat either end of said crossmember a bearing forming plate rigid withsaid crossmember, a support-forming plate associated with saidbearing-forming plate and detachably carried by the correspondingupright, said support-forming plate being a rectangular vertical platecomprising an upper edge, a lower edge and two vertical edgesrespectively at the rear and at the front, said upper and lower edgesbeing doubled over, said front vertical edge being provided with a lugextension bent at right angles thereto and adapted to engage an aperturein said upright, said vertical rear edge being also provided with a lugextension bent at right angles thereto and acting as an abutment to saidbearingforrning plate in the horizontal or open position of said door,and a pivot pin resiliently carried by said supportforming plate andhaving pivoted thereon the relevant bearing-forming plate. 1

2. Hinge device as set forth in clafun 1, whereinsaid bearingformingplate consists of an angle member having one wing rigid with saidcross member, said pivot pin extending through the other wing of saidangle member. v

3. Hinge device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said cross-membercarries at either end a pair of superposed pulleys, said, door carryingtwo cables followingsymmetric paths in relation to the transverse planeof symmetry of the door and interconnecting two opposite upper cornersof the rectangular door by passing in succession over one pulley in eachpair, said cables being respectively anchored at one end tosaid oppositecorners,

resilient means anchored to the side of said door opposite] said cornersand respectively to the other end "of the cables for compensating anyunequal forces applied to said opposite corners tending to cause saiddoor to jam" when said door is sliding on said cross member and 'fortensioning said cables.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSGermany July 15,

